Starbucks appointed Anand Varadarajan as its new chief technology officer to lead a technology overhaul aimed at improving labor efficiency across its stores. Anand Varadarajan, a technology veteran who spent 19 years at Amazon leading grocery supply chain systems, is scheduled to take the role on January 19. Starbucks is planning for the leadership transition to support a turnaround strategy under CEO Brian Niccol following the company’s first quarter of comparable sales growth in nearly 18 months. Anand Varadarajan previously held a role at Oracle and succeeds interim lead Ningyu Chen, who filled the position after Deb Hall Lefevre departed in September.
